SUNEDISON, INC. is a global renewable energy company headquartered in
the U.S. In addition to developing, building, owning, and operating
solar power plants and wind energy plants, it also manufactures high
purity polysilicon , monocrystalline silicon ingots , silicon wafers ,
solar modules , solar energy systems , and solar module racking
systems . Originally a silicon-wafer manufacturer established in 1959
as the
MonsantoMonsanto Electronic Materials Company, a former business unit
of
Monsanto CompanyMonsanto Company ,
MonsantoMonsanto sold the company in 1989. Prior to May
30, 2013, the company was known as MEMC ELECTRONIC MATERIALS; the name
change to
SunEdisonSunEdison reflects the company's focus on solar energy.
SunEdison's corporate headquarters are in
Maryland Heights, MissouriMaryland Heights, Missouri ,
and the company's operational and solar headquarters are in Belmont,
California with offices throughout the world.

Established in the early stages of the semiconductor electronics
industry in 1959, MEMC was for the next half century a major and
pioneering manufacturer of silicon wafers, the most basic element of
semiconductor-chip manufacturing. The company entered the solar market
in a major way beginning in 2006, with longterm contracts to
manufacture and sell solar wafers to several large Asian solar-energy
companies. Contracts with other solar-energy companies followed, as
did joint-venture projects on solar power plants. With the acquisition
of the large, successful, and pioneering solar-energy systems company
SunEdisonSunEdison LLC in late 2009 and the smaller solar-power companies Axio
and Fotowatio in 2011, MEMC focused increasingly on the burgeoning
solar-energy industry to offset the cyclical downturns in the
semiconductor market. The company now develops, finances, and
maintains solar power systems and plants for a widespread commercial,
public-sector, and power-plant customer base, and its name change in
2013 to SunEdison, Inc. reflects its main focus. It is one of the
leading solar-power companies worldwide, and with its acquisition of
wind-energy company
First Wind in 2014,
SunEdisonSunEdison is the leading
renewable energy development company in the world. SunEdison's
subsidiaries TerraForm Power and TerraForm Global own and operate
renewable-energy projects around the globe. In 2015,
SunEdisonSunEdison sold
off its subsidiary
SunEdisonSunEdison Semiconductor, which manufactures silicon
wafers for the electronics industry. The divestiture marked the
completion of SunEdison, Inc.'s transition from a semiconductor-wafer
company to a dedicated renewable-energy corporation.

Following years of major expansion and the announcement of the intent
– which eventually fell through – to acquire the
residential-rooftop solar company
Vivint Solar in 2015, SunEdison's
stock plummeted and its more than $11 billion in debt caused it to
file for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 21, 2016.

The establishment of MONSANTO ELECTRONIC MATERIALS COMPANY (MEMC), a
silicon wafer –manufacturing division to serve the emerging
electronics industry, was announced on August 6, 1959, as an arm of
the U.S.-based multinational corporation
MonsantoMonsanto . In February 1960
MEMC started production of 19mm silicon ingots at its location in St.
Peters,
MissouriMissouri , 30 miles west of Monsanto's headquarters in St.
Louis. As one of the first companies to produce semiconductor wafers,
MEMC was a pioneer in the field, and some of its innovations became
industry standards into the 21st century. MEMC used the Czochralski
process (CZ process) of silicon crystal production, and developed the
Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) process of wafer finishing. In
1966 MEMC installed its first reactors for the production of epitaxial
wafers , and developed zero-dislocation crystal growing, which made
large-diameter silicon crystals possible.

EXPANSION

In the early 1970s, MEMC opened a production plant in
Kuala LumpurKuala Lumpur ,
MalaysiaMalaysia , and sent its St. Peters–produced 2.25-inch ingots there
for slicing and polishing. In 1979, MEMC became the first company to
manufacture 125mm (5-inch) wafers; in 1981 the first to produce 150mm
(6-inch) wafers; and, in partnership with
IBMIBM , in 1984 the first to
produce 200mm (8-inch) wafers. In 1986 MEMC opened its production
and R">
SunEdisonSunEdison Solar Testing Facility

In 2006 MEMC announced its large-scale entry into the burgeoning
solar wafer market, via longterm agreements to supply China-based
Suntech Power and Taiwan-based Gintech Energy with solar-grade silicon
wafers. Similar contracts followed with Germany-based
ConergyConergy in
2007, and Taiwan-based Tainergy Tech in 2008. The company cultivated
short-term solar wafer customers as well. By 2007, MEMC held
approximately 14% of the solar wafer market. Having returned MEMC to
a foundation of profitability and having helped it enter the solar
market, CEO
Nabeel Gareeb resigned in November 2008. Ahmad Chatila
was appointed President and CEO in February 2009.

In July 2009 MEMC and
Q-CellsQ-Cells , which specialized in construction and
operation of photovoltaic plants, formed a joint venture to build
Strasskirchen Solar ParkStrasskirchen Solar Park , a 50 MW photovoltaic plant in
Bavaria ,
GermanyGermany , with MEMC supplying the solar wafers and
Q-CellsQ-Cells converting
them into solar cells . Both partners invested $100 million each, in
return for a 50%-each ownership of the project. As planned, the plant
was sold to an investment firm, Nordcapital, after operations started
at the beginning of 2010.

ACQUISITION OF SUNEDISON

In November 2009 MEMC acquired the privately owned company SunEdison
LLC, North America's largest solar energy services provider. Founded
by
Jigar Shah ,
SunEdisonSunEdison had been developing, financing, building,
operating, and monitoring large-scale photovoltaic plants for
commercial customers, including many national retail outlets,
government agencies, and utilities, since 2003. The company had
pioneered solar-as-a-service, and the solar power purchase agreement
(PPA) for no-money-down customer financing. With the acquisition of
SunEdison, MEMC became a developer of solar power projects and North
America's largest solar energy services provider. CEO Ahmad Chatila
announced that "MEMC will now participate in the actual development of
solar power plants and commercialization of clean energy, in addition
to supplying the solar and semiconductor industries with our
traditional silicon wafer products."
SunEdisonSunEdison was purchased for $200
million, 70% in cash and 30% in MEMC stock, plus retention payments,
transaction expenses, and the assumption of net debt.

Following its acquisition of SunEdison, MEMC also began to focus on
developing and acquiring advanced technologies used in the production
of low-cost, high-performance solar panels. It acquired the
California-based solar tech company Solaicx in mid 2010. The
acquisition included Solaicx's high-volume proprietary "continuous
crystal growth" manufacturing technology, which produces low-cost
monocrystalline silicon ingots for high-efficiency solar cells.

In February 2011 Samsung Fine Chemicals and MEMC announced a 50/50
joint venture to build a polysilicon production plant in Ulsan, South
Korea . The plant was to have an initial capacity of 10,000 metric
tons per annum. As of late 2014 the joint venture, called SMP, is 85%
owned by
SunEdisonSunEdison (50% by SunEdison, Inc. and 35% by SunEdison
Semiconductor) and 15% by Samsung, and the plant has a capacity of
13,500 metric tons per annum. By October 2014, the plant began
producing the world’s first high-pressure fluidized bed reactor
(HP-FBR) polysilicon, enabling sizeable reductions in the cost of
solar energy.

In 2011 MEMC also extended its solar-energy business. In June 2011,
it acquired another North American solar-power project developer, Axio
Power. Axio Power, founded in 2007, developed, financed, and
constructed large-scale solar projects, and had more than 500 MW of
utility-scale photovoltaic power projects in Canada and the western
U.S. In July 2011, MEMC established a joint venture with Korea-based
Jusung Engineering, to combine its proprietary Solaicx CCZ
monocrystalline wafers with Jusung's high-efficiency cell
manufacturing equipment to provide low-cost, high-efficiency solar
cells. In September 2011, MEMC acquired Fotowatio Renewable Ventures
Inc., the U.S. unit of Fotowatio Renewable Ventures, a developer,
operator and owner of solar power plants. The FRV purchase added up
to 1.4 GW of solar projects in the U.S. to MEMC's portfolio.

In December 2011 MEMC undertook restructuring measures in reaction to
a cyclical downturn in its semiconductor business and a slump in the
whole supply chain of photovoltaic modules. The company announced a
headcount reduction of 1,300 employees (18% of the workforce), plus
capacity reduction and productivity increase for polysilicon and
wafers.

In 2012 MEMC developed its Silvantis line of multi-crystalline
290-watt solar modules. With 1,000-volt UL certification, the modules
created considerable overall energy-production and systems savings on
solar projects due to the ability to be more efficiently wired.

NAME CHANGE

On May 30, 2013, MEMC Electronic Materials changed its name to
SUNEDISON, INC., and also changed its stock-market ticker from "WFR"
to "SUNE", reflecting the company's focus on solar energy. In May
2014,
SunEdisonSunEdison formally separated its electronics-wafer business from
its solar-wafer and solar-energy business.
SunEdisonSunEdison Semiconductor,
Ltd. spun off in an
IPOIPO on the NASDAQ under the ticker "SEMI", with
SunEdison, Inc. maintaining a majority stake as the largest
shareholder. The
IPOIPO generated $94 million, used to fund the
company's growth.

In July 2014,
SunEdisonSunEdison created a yieldco subsidiary, called
TerraForm Power, Inc., with SunEdison, Inc. maintaining a majority
stake as the largest shareholder. TerraForm began publicly trading
in an
IPOIPO under the ticker "TERP". This
IPOIPO of the power-generation
subsidiary spin-off raised roughly $500 million.
SunEdisonSunEdison launched a
second yieldco subsidiary, TerraForm Global, in 2015, to manage
renewable-energy projects in emerging markets like Brazil, China, and
India. This second yieldco trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker
"GLBL".

In October 2014
SunEdisonSunEdison announced the development of "zero white
space" solar modules, which eliminate wasted space on the solar module
surface. That month it also announced the implementation of
"high-pressure fluidized bed reactor " (HP-FBR) technology, producing
high-purity polysilicon up to 10 times more efficiently and with 90%
less energy used than non-FBR technologies.

In November 2014, with its subsidiary TerraForm Power, SunEdison
purchased
First Wind , one of the largest wind power developers in the
United States, for $2.4 billion. The acquisition added wind energy
to SunEdison's capacity, and made it the leading renewable energy
development company in the world.

In June 2015, SunEdison, Inc. announced its full divestiture from its
semiconductor business, the publicly traded company SunEdison
Semiconductor. The completion of the sell-off finalized SunEdison's
transition into a dedicated renewable-energy company.

BANKRUPTCY

Following years of major expansion and the announcement of the intent
– which eventually fell through – to acquire the
residential-rooftop solar company
Vivint Solar in 2015, SunEdison's
stock plummeted and its more than $11 billion in debt caused it to
face bankruptcy in April 2016. It filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection on April 21, 2016. To continue its operations and pay
staff, the company received $300 million in bankruptcy debt financing.
It will continue operations during bankruptcy. The debt financing
money came from first-lien and second-lien lenders. The bankruptcy
court must approve the money.

When it filed for bankruptcy, the company asked the court for an
independent examiner to audit the company’s recent financial
transactions.
SunEdisonSunEdison requested that the examiner’s work start
immediately and finish within 60 days, and that the maximum budget be
$1 million.
ReutersReuters noted that, comparatively, the 2015 independent
examination in the bankruptcy of
Caesars Entertainment Corp. took one
year and cost $40 million.

During the summer of 2015,
SunEdisonSunEdison was worth almost $10 billion,
and in July 2015 shares traded upward of $33.44. On the day of the
bankruptcy filing, the company’s trading price on the New York Stock
Exchange was 34 cents per share.

According to the Wall Street Journal: “
SunEdisonSunEdison used a combination
of financial engineering and cheap debt to buy up renewable-power
projects around the world before the market turned sour last summer
and investors soured on its business model.” During the three years
preceding the bankruptcy filing,
SunEdisonSunEdison invested $18 billion in
acquisitions. During that time, the company also raised $24 billion in
debt and equity.

As of late April 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice is conducting
an investigation into the company regarding its financial practices.
Internally, SunEdison’s board completed its own investigation,
concluding that the company’s leaders were “overly optimistic”
but did not make “material misstatements” or commit any fraud.

SUNEDISON COMPANIES

* SUNEDISON, INC.

* SunEdison's solar materials group produces granular polysilicon ,
silicon-crystal ingots , silicon wafers , and specifies the production
of solar cells and solar modules . It produces granular polysilicon in
purities usable in the solar and semiconductor industries. The
granular polysilicon is produced in Pasadena ,
TexasTexas , and, through a
joint venture with Samsung and
SunEdisonSunEdison Semiconductor, in Ulsan,
Korea . The granular silicon is used for SunEdison's own
silicon-crystal manufacturing, and for sales to third-party solar and
semiconductor crystal-manufacturing companies. The division also has a
plant in
Portland, Oregon acquired from Solaicx in 2010, which
produces silicon-crystal ingots using the "continuous crystal growth"
technology, enabling the production of low-cost wafers for
high-efficiency solar cells. The ingots are sliced into wafers in
Malaysia.
SunEdisonSunEdison and its subsidiaries and joint-venture partners
also manufacture the solar cells used in its modules. Its solar
modules are assembled by contract manufacturers in Malaysia, Mexico,
Taiwan, Korea, and China which use
SunEdisonSunEdison technology, meet
SunEdison's strict specifications, and use SunEdison's quality control
systems.

* SunEdison's solar power group plans, designs, develops, finances,
underwrites, builds, installs, operates, monitors, and maintains
large-scale solar energy and wind energy systems and plants for
commercial customers, including numerous national retail outlets,
shopping centers, businesses and corporations; government agencies and
other public-sector customers; and utilities and other power
companies. Through an extensive dealer network, it also provides
complete solar systems and services for residential homeowners.
Through its financing services and partners,
SunEdisonSunEdison offers
commercial and residential customers the opportunity to install a
solar system for no upfront costs, with predictable cost-effective
energy rates over the life of the system contract. The company also
continues its longstanding research and development to create
innovations, cost reductions, and performance enhancements in
solar-energy systems technology.
SunEdisonSunEdison produces energy via its
numerous power plants, and also manages numerous solar power plants
worldwide.

* TERRAFORM

* SunEdison's subsidiary TerraForm Power is a global renewable
energy project development company. It owns and operates solar and
wind generation assets serving utility, commercial, and residential
customers. It owns and operates over 200 solar power projects. Its
scope extends to other clean power generation such as natural gas,
geothermal, hydro-electricity, and hybrid power generation.

* SunEdison's subsidiary TerraForm Global is a globally diversified
owner and operator of clean and renewable energy generation assets in
high-growth emerging markets. It generates electricity through solar,
wind, and hydro-electric projects. The company serves utility,
commercial, industrial, and governmental customers. Its scope allows
it to extend to other clean-power generation assets such as natural
gas, biomass, and hybrid energy and storage solutions, as well as
transmission lines, and to residential in addition to commercial
customers.

REFERENCES

* Swinger, Patricia. Building on the Past, Ready for the Future: A
Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration of MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc..
The Donning Company , 2009.